Bind to specific interface only?

General Discussions
21

I'll pile on here as well... I first noticed the problem with multiple IPs when I was trying to get the Xbox 360 app to work  (  https://forums.plex.tv/topic/126286-plex-server-unavailable/?p=774428  ).

We really need a way to bind to a specific IP/interface. 

22

  I'd like to have any plex client connect on one NIC but other Plex traffic like downloading content from a channel happen on another NIC.

  TED talk from Internet --> Plex NIC 1 --> Plex NIC 2 --> Plex Client.   

23

I haven't tried this personally (I have no need for it myself), but I wonder if it would work:

Modify your Plex startup script so that it FIRST calls a custom script that contains simple PERL code that opens a LISTEN'er daemon on the adapter/port you don't want Plex to bind to.  This LISTEN'er would simply close any incoming connections it receives.  Then when Plex starts up, it will not be able to bind to the adapters/ports where your PERL script is running.  I imagine that PERL script would only be about 5 lines long since you wouldn't need any error checking or fallback code like you might with a real server.  This LISTEN'er script is really just a dummy NAK kind of thing.

This all depends on whether Plex considers a failure to bind to one adapter (but not the other) to be fatal or not.  Maybe worth a shot to test it, if this is something you need.

24

+1 to something that can be manually added to Preferences.xml or something specifying local IPs or interfaces to bind to.

25

I was looking for something like this too.  I don't want my VPN to have access to plex.  I am currently using iptables to block this but I would prefer to bind plex to a specific interface or address.

26

I was looking for something like this too.  I don't want my VPN to have access to plex.  I am currently using iptables to block this but I would prefer to bind plex to a specific interface or address.

Funny, I have just the opposite desire.  If I VPN from my laptop to my home LAN (my router acts as my VPN server), I have full access to everything on my LAN.  But other VPN clients (like my kids routers at their homes) ONLY have access to my PLEX server.  I use iptables for this too - I limit the kids access from their LANs over VPN to a single IP address on my LAN, and only specific tcp and udp ports on that one IP address that PLEX uses.  I do this because I don't have total control of things on their LANS, so who knows what malware may lay in wait on their LANs trying to sneak its way into my LAN.  Ideally, for best security, I would not allow them any VPN access at all, but I'm willing to give them access to PLEX and live with the small possibility that something on their LAN could attack PLEX on my LAN.  Everything is a trade-off.  Just having your computer hooked up to the internet opens you up for trouble.  But internet access is a security trade-off that most people aren't willing to give up.

27

+1 i really need this!

28

I had a similar issue. My server diverts all traffic via a VPN so the method Plex uses to find the WAN IP fails.

I posted on the forum and didn't get a reply... My workaround was to create a static route for plex.tv. 

I created a systemd script that runs after the VPN is established. The relevant parts are below:

#Amend default GW to your local GW
DEFAULT_GW="192.168.x.1"
IP_BIN=/usr/bin/ip

PLEX_IP_ADDS=$( dig +noall +answer plex.tv | cut -f6 )


for IP_ADDS in ${PLEX_IP_ADDS}; do

${IP_BIN} route add ${IP_ADDS} via ${DEFAULT_GW}

done
My Plex seems to be working okay now. I tested it by running the following before and after adding the static route:
curl http://plex.tv/pms/:/ip
29

Okay, really, why isn’t this a thing yet.

In addition to all the functional problems above, I dislike Plex listening on all my server’s IPs. This is a basic feature I expect to exist on anything that daemonizes itself.

30

I haven’t had a chance to try this myself yet, but plan to…

31

I run openstack at home (it’s what I do) and the inability to specify the localAddresses prevents connections through the floating ip address, so +1 from me too.

32

Im running Plex inside docker with --net=“host” option(otherwise local clients will not find the server) so it listens now to all IPs(5) from the host server. It would be really nice to have a option to listen to a specific ip only. +1 from me too.

33

I’d like this too.

34

@aqntbghd said:
Just a quick update on that problem. As Plex people haven’t fixed the root of the problem (and because i half trust the security of this software after the recent incidents), i’ve decided to run my plex server inside an LXC container. So plex has it’s own virtual linux, bind only to that interface and i heavily firewall that on the hosting server. I can also select which machine on my LAN has access to that server.

I suggest to anyone needing this to make plex a dedicated server, even if your machine isn’t. LXC is a nice option, less overhead and such than full virtualization. Then give your dedicated interface to the lxc guest, with plex being the only thing running in the guest.

35

+1. Not only is the issue the connection being listened to, but also the automatic detection of the IP address. Since I use a VPN on my server, when Plex fetches the IP address, that of my VPN connection is returned (even though the application is excluded from my VPN and is accessible via my IP directly). This would be resolved if I could specify a NIC to bind to for all Plex traffic.

36

Plex is detecting the wrong local IP(a vhost) on my machine. I can’t setup remote connection if it doesn’t bind to the Ethernet port properly…

37

I’d like to see this option as well.

38

Plus one here, Plex binds to wrong interface and I cannot access it remotely

39

Okay, seriously: is Plex purposefully ignoring this? There are a myriad of different use-cases for this, as can be seen throughout this thread. It’s a technical problem, yes, but it’s not some sort of programming paradox. Please include this, Plex… It’s borderline insulting that this very common feature request has not even been responded to officially.

This very issue has been constantly looking at Plex alternatives and I’ll most likely jump ship as soon as a suitable alternative even remotely fulfills my current Plex use case… So so frustrating!!

Good grief…

40

+1 I have a Qnap Nas and plex is binding to my fallback Internet NIC, which is a way slower connection than another nic, so I want it to bind to the latter.